LA or NYC, which city would I make more money? (2015, insurance)

[KP Plumbing]

I've been wanting to move to LA (or southern California in general) for quite some time now, but I always hear about the insanely high cost of living. I've thought about New York too, although I heard it's even more expensive. But do you get paid more in NYC? How does the income to cost of living ratio compare to LA?

I work in accounting, and I'll likely be staying in the finance field for now. In which city would I likely make more money?

[adr3naline]

I do not work in finance but wanted to chime in with tactic I have used in this situation. Plug in your title (or the title you plan to achieve post-move) into GlassDoor.com and compare user submitted salaries in both regions. This way you're not working with a generic salary aggregator which we all know to be questionable. Then take those figures and jump on PadMapper to compare against the cost of housing in areas you're comfortable living. Since housing is the single largest budget item in both regions, you can come to a decent conclusion about your discretionary income. Room for error, of course, but it gives you an idea.

Hopefully that's helpful. Good luck.

[brrabbit]

Go with whichever city excites you more... Salaries will vary, cost of living on different items will vary, but it's really meaningless if you aren't happy with the city.

BTW, I'd say Boston might be a better choice than NYC.

[MordinSolus]

Put out feelers in both cities and see which city has better positions available.

[Freedom54]

You'll make more in NYC, but the taxes are higher there also. quality of life not so great in my humble opinion (born and raised in NYC, moved out 18 months ago)

[PDR2015]

Without even checking, I would say LA is better for an accountant. NYC living is not sustainable for most professionals less they work in finance (banking and trading), law, tech, mgmt level... Do you have your CPA?

[radiolibre99]

NYC pays more but the housing is outrageously expensive. LA is less expensive and the wages are lower compared to the majors, SF, NYC, DC and Boston. LA has the worst disconnect between rent/housing prices and wages among the major cities. I'm sure as an accountant it will all vary and you can find a good medium if you look but for the most part it's not what I would call ideal to just expect everything to fall into place right away for you.

[jm1982]

I agree with the idea that you shouldn't just base where you live solely on how much money you can make.
Of course if you were in the financial/stock market field then NYC seems to be the place to be...just like L.A would be the place to be in the entertainment industry...although there are other markets that are doing that.
Perhaps a better example would be like the SF Bay Area for the tech industry.

Housing in NYC is going to be more expensive per square ft, probably older, less amenities too.
Other things will end up costing more too.
One advantage to NYC though would be that you can get by without a car. Cars are a big expense. Even if you have a used car. Once you add up insurance, gas , maintenance, etc.

[NyWriterdude]

Originally Posted by PDR2015

Without even checking, I would say LA is better for an accountant. NYC living is not sustainable for most professionals less they work in finance (banking and trading), law, tech, mgmt level... Do you have your CPA?

Teachers, bus drivers, nurses, and other working class people all live and own homes in NYC.

That doesn't mean the OP should chose NYC, but as someone from NYC I hate to see people talk about things they clearly know nothing about.

[jm1982]

Many people (outside of NYC) only think of NYC as Manhattan too.

It would be like thinking of L.A as only the Westside or something.